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Amherst officials, residents hope James Cherewatti will change his mind and sell building for affordable housing

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Alex Kent of Amherst holds a sign expressing his displeasure with Eagle Crest Management. The owner James Cherewatti has decided against selling Echo Village for affordable housing.
(Diane Lederman/The Republican)

AMHERST – Town officials were days away from applying for Community Development Block Grant funding to help preserve affordable housing at Echo Village when they were told the property owner they had been talking to rejected the offered bid.

That means the town cannot apply for the grant that was also seeking money for the emergency homeless shelter and other programs.

And it also means the fate of those living at Echo Hill is again uncertain.
Town officials had been talking to owner James Cherewatti of Eagle Crest about selling the property to a buyer on behalf of the town, who would buy the building and keep rents affordable.

Cherewatti bought the property a year ago for $3 million and then provided eviction notices to tenants. A housing court judge overturned those evictions, but some tenants had already left. At one time, 19 families were living there with Section 8 Housing vouchers.

He is listed as involved with 14 different corporations with the Secretary of State's office.

But about 48 hours before the town was to submit its block grant application, officials learned that Cherewatti had rejected the bid offered by the group on behalf of the town.

“It’s incredibly disappointing,” said Town Manager John P. Musante.

The Select Board, meanwhile, has sent a letter to Cherewatti “to express our extreme disappointment with your rejection of the recent purchase offer” and asked that he reconsider the offer made. They also asked that he cease eviction notices.

Cherewatti was asked to comment, but left his office without speaking. An office assistant had said he was on the phone and then had to leave.

About a dozen residents, meanwhile, demonstrated in front of the Eagle Crest office Wednesday morning to express their displeasure. Alex Kent, one of the organizers, held a sign that read “Stop EvilCrest Greed must not Trump Need.” He said he was concerned about what had happened.

Mary Wentworth said they were hoping “to put him (Cherewatti) in the spotlight.” But she guessed he doesn’t shame easily.

Michael Burkhart said property owners treat the town like a business, and “you can make a lot of money.” But he said, “it’s time time to show what our priorities are.”

Paige Wilder was there with her daughter Hattie Wilder to support the town’s effort to purchase property and supports the town having more affordable housing.

The town had planned to apply for $600,000 from the block grant program to contribute to the property purchase and that would have been combined with $750,000 requested from the town's Community Preservation Act.

Musante said the buyer “was willing to engage in a competitive market rate offer.” Cherewatti, he said, did not provide a counter offer.

Meanwhile, the town could not apply for CDBG funding because the agency requires that a capital project be included on the application, and it was too late to come up with another project in time for the Feb. 14 deadline. “It has a domino effect on social services,” Musante said.

The town had also planned to apply for $70,000 in funding for Craig's Doors, which operates the town’s emergency homeless shelter, $35,000 for the Amherst Survival Center and $20,000 for the town’s fund to assist in emergencies.

Musante said officials will decide what to do to fund those programs and might ask the town in a separate article from the budget to fund the programs.
“This is a major, major disappointment.”